In government, once a program is created and funded, it typically goes on and on no matter what. The taxpayers, of course, end up stuck with the bill. But this is a new day in North Carolina.  The North Carolina General Assembly has already shown it’s willing to take the predictable criticism that comes with streamlining operations and showing respect for the people whose labor pays for it all. This Carolina Journal editorial from August summarizes the action taken this year with respect to the Rural Center.

For more than a quarter-century, the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center and its President Billy Ray Hall seemed invincible. Every year, the General Assembly gave the nonprofit millions of dollars that Hall — acting like a ward heeler in a corrupt political machine — doled out to benefit politically connected developers and local officials across the state. In return, he expected, and typically received, their support.

In mid-July, Hall’s shakedown operation came to a sudden demise. A scathing state audit appeared a few weeks after a devastating series of investigative reports in the News & Observer. Hall resigned less than 48 hours after the audit went public. Days later, the General Assembly enacted a budget cutting off state subsidies to the Rural Center, shifting most of its functions and funding stream to a new Division of Rural Economic Development in the Department of Commerce.

Now the legislature has another opportunity to trim dead wood. Carolina Journal’s Barry Smith reports on the results of a state audit here.

A new state audit questions the efficiency of the N.C. Agricultural Finance Authority and suggests that the General Assembly and N.C. Department of Agriculture might want to restructure the authority’s operations.

The audit, performed by State Auditor Beth Wood’s office, questions if the economic conditions that the authority was created to address still exist. The authority was established 25 years ago by the General Assembly to alleviate a shortage of available and affordable loans for agriculture and agricultural exports.

The head of the authority responded that it operates efficiently and provides benefits to the state.

The audit points out that that the authority provided only four new loans during the 2011-12 fiscal year. “Only one additional loan for $590,000 has been made as of Feb. 28, 2013,” the report says.

In addition, the report says the authority suffers an operating loss of about $269,890 a year.

The report also suggests that the authority is overstaffed, with seven full-time employees and one part-time employee.